A challenge that we revisit with some frequency is the Eclipse Elevator Pitch: How do you explain Eclipse in fifteen seconds? Ultimately, I’m not sure it’s possible. Pretty much every time I speak to a group, I spend time talking about Eclipse with a deck of slides that are aptly named “What is Eclipse?” [note-to-self: I need to update the uploaded version of these slides.]. I can get through the deck in about twenty minutes. That’s a little long for an elevator ride, but I’m pretty confident that audience members leave with an appreciation for the broader notions of Eclipse. With time, I’d like to hone it down into a more concise form; but ultimately, I think it’ll be easier for me to just find a longer elevator ride.

The talk generally starts with an expectation that the audience is familiar with Eclipse as a Java IDE. From there, I wind a path that is intended to broaden that definition. It’s impossible to be completely comprehensive: it’s very easy to get bogged down in the details of all the great things that Equinox does, or all the wonderful offerings from the various Modeling projects. I try to avoid bringing in too many specifics (I do name drop as many projects as I can, however).

Over the next few days, I’ll describe the parts of my talk with more detail. But for today, I’ll start with the table of contents.

Eclipse is…

• A Java IDE;
• An IDE Framework;
• A tools Framework;
• An Application Framework;
• Runtimes;
• Open Source Projects;
• A Community;
• An Eco-system;
• A Foundation; and
• More?

From http://dev.eclipse.org/blogs/wayne/2010/06/14/eclipse-is/